How To Pronounce “available”?

Most English learners pronounce the word “available” the wrong way.  There are 3 reasons that learners mispronounce it.

Reason 1: The schwa sounds

The word “available” contains 3 schwa sounds.  2 of them are visible and 1 is not. The schwa sound is a weak sound.  When I say weak, it means that we do not stress it.  It is lax (relaxed) and short.  We do not make any effort with our lips, jaw or tongue.  .   I will bold the visible ones for you and place the invisible schwa sound in brackets between /b/ and /l/.

availab(ə)le

So that means that “ai” or vowel /eɪ/ is the  only stressed syllable in the word like this” aVAIlable

Reason 2: Consonant /v/.

Consonant /v/ is difficult to pronounce for most English learners as it requires placing the lower lip against the upper teeth and let their air escape through a very tight gap between the lip and teeth. Some English learners struggle to prevent the upper lips from involuntarily moving down and consequently touching the lower lip and producing consonant /b/ instead.

Reason 3: Consonant /l/.

Depending on your mother tongue, you will have different sorts of problems with consonant /l/ at the end of the word “available”. However, one common problem is when the students round their lips producing something similar to vowel /ɔ/ (o) instead. You’ve got to make sure that your lips remain relaxed and that your tongue tip is pressing against the alveolar ridge (the bony area behind your upper teeth).  Make sure you keep the sides of your tongue free (not touching the upper teeth).  Also, the back of your tongue should be lowered.